The Clutter Princess » Products and Tools

Electronic and Digital Organizing

janice — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:25:12 +0000

At the National Association of Professional Organizers conference, it seemed more vendors than ever came with electronic and digital wares. It’s the future. I encourage my clients to move toward scanning in their important documents and photos. When you live in a hurricane prone area like I do, you need to be able pick up and get out when necessary.

My organizing pal Julie Bestry did a fabulous job of recapping all of the digital services showcased at the conference’s organizing expo. Hey — I was the conference chair this year and running around like a mad woman so I didn’t get a chance to see every booth. So check out Julie’s round-ups at www.juliebestry.com/organizing. You can see by Julie’s blog posts that when it comes to digital organizing, you have more and more options to choose from. With these many choices on the market — and more than likely more to come — you can find the digital solution that best fits you!

NAPO Conference

janice — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:14:05 +0000

I just spent a week in Orlando at the National Association of Professional Organizers, and boy, did I come back with a lot of information, tips, and product ideas! So for the new few weeks, I’m going share those with you!

Imagine 750 plus professional organizers in one room! It’s crazy. Toss in a room of exhibitors with the latest and greatest organizing products and tools. Well, it’s like teen-age girls swarming the Jonas Brothers. Just a few of the new products out there:

Organizing guru and Oprah regular Peter Walsh has a new line of office products only available at Office Max. Everything is functional, flexible, and easy to use.
Scanmyphotos.com will scan your boxes of photos, negatives, slides, and VHS tapes and made them electronic. They can do some photo restoration as well. On their website, you can create photo cards and books out of your favorite pics.
Pixily.com is a serve that will scan in your documents so you can have them online. With the service, you can organize, search, share and access your documents. All of the documents are created into PDF’s.
NeatCo.com, the company that gave us the skinny Neat Receipts, now has Neat Desk. The Neat Desk can scan in receipts, business cards and documents are the same time, and the software recognizes which pieces of paper are which and stores them electronically for you.
Join Listplanit.com to access over 350 lists to help you plan your life. Need a list for something? Well, they have it. If you need lists to plan menus, go on a trip, spring clean, or planning a party, this is the website for you. Save your brain cells and get a pre-made list.

Those are just a few of the products at the conference. Watch this space! More information is coming your way.

How Cute Are You?

janice — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:39:45 +0000

During a leadership workshop at work, the faculty participants had to come up with a mission statement and decide what values were important to them. One part of the workshop included circling words from a list that best represented their value statements, and they could add words if necessary. One of the doctors said we underestimate the value of “cute” — a word he added to his list.

Curious, I asked what he meant. He explained that in his native Japan, “cute” is a serious value for everything – products, clothes, technology, and other commercial ventures. The power of cute is an important part of his culture – and probably for plenty of other cultures as well even if they don’t verbalize it.

I love cute. Cute is good. And yes, it’s for grown-ups as well as kids. I never realized how important the power of cute is to my organizing clients and, well, to myself too. You would think I would have realized that by the reactions we all have at places like The Container Store, IKEA, and Target. These three stores have built their reputations on the power of cute. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve oohed and aahed about something cute while shopping at these places, I would have the cutest pile of cash you ever saw.

My organizing clients prefer using cute and fun organizing products vs. something plain and boring. The cute stuff catches their eye, reminds them, and keeps their life more organized. Cute works on the professional organizer too. When my department moved into a new office building last summer with metal gray institutional furniture, I bought a few cute items from SeeJaneWork.com to add some color to my work world. My boss kept bringing people into my office to show them my super cute stuff. Behold, the power of cute.

Value the power of cute. When you’re thinking about organizing your space at work and home, don’t forget The Cute.

Organizing Tools for the Recession

janice — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:23:22 +0000

I held my annual Organizing Expo last week at work. In addition to my regular slate of office supply vendors, I had a “recession” table to show off items you can re-purpose into organizing tools. The most popular item on the recession table was the tissue box I used as a plastic bag holder. Everyone loved the idea.

Other ideas from the recession table:

Use a wine rack as a magazine rack or towel holder. This works perfectly in a guest bath during a party.

Spiral-bound index cards can be used as a holiday gift list. Use one page per person and scribble down ideas and sizes.

Use a weekly planner as a food and exercise journal.

Create your own recipe book by using a binder and a bunch of plastic sleeves. Tape all of those recipes onto paper and slide them into the pages. Divide your book into sections with a divider.